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Pz.Kpfw. I
The Pz.Kpfw. I (short for Panzerkampfwagen I, meaning "armored fighting vehicle mark I") is a series of WWII German light tanks featured in the Combat Choro-Q series. Description Real life It was after WWI that the Germans were forbidden from producing tanks under the conditions of the Treaty of Versailles of 1919. Paragraph 24 of the treaty provided for a 100,000 Deutsche mark fine and imprisonment of up to six months for anybody who "manufactured armored vehicles, tanks or similar machines, which may be turned to military use." In spite of manpower and technical limitations placed upon them by the treaty, several Reichswehr officials established a clandestine general staff to study World War I and develop future strategies and tactics. Although, at first, the concept of the tank as a mobile weapon of war met with apathy, German industry was encouraged to look into tank design, while quiet cooperation was undertaken with the Soviet Union. There was also minor military cooperation with Sweden, including the extraction of technical data that proved invaluable to early German tank design. As early as 1926, the German companies Krupp, Rheinmetall, and Daimler-Benz were contracted to develop prototype tanks armed with a large, 75mm cannon. These were designed under the cover name Großtraktor (meaning "large tractor") to hide the true purpose of the vehicle. By 1930, a light tank armed with rapid-fire machine guns was to be developed under the cover name Leichttraktor ("light tractor"). The six produced Großtraktor were later put into service for a brief period with the 1st Panzer Division; the Leichttraktor remained in testing until 1935. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, German tank theory was pioneered by two figures; General Oswald Lutz and his chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Heinz Guderian. Guderian became the more influential of the two and his ideas were widely publicized. Like his contemporary, Sir Percy Hobart, Guderian initially envisioned an armored corps (panzerkorps) composed of several types of tanks. This included a slow infantry tank, armed with a small-caliber cannon and several machine guns. The infantry tank, according to Guderian, was to be heavily armored to defend against enemy anti-tank guns and artillery. He also envisioned a fast breakthrough tank, similar to the British cruiser tank, which was to be armoured against enemy anti-tank weapons and have a large, 75mm (2.95 in) main gun. Lastly, Germany needed a heavy tank, armed with a 150mm (5.9 in) cannon to defeat enemy fortifications, and even stronger armor. Such a tank required a weight of 70 to 100 tonnes and was completely impractical given the manufacturing capabilities of the day. Soon after rising to power in Germany, Adolf Hitler approved the creation of Germany's first panzer divisions. Simplifying his earlier proposal, Guderian suggested the design of a main combat vehicle, which would be developed into the Panzer III, and a breakthrough tank, the Panzer IV. No existing design appealed to Guderian. As a stopgap, the German Army ordered a preliminary vehicle to train German tank crews. This became the Panzer I. The Panzer I's design history can be traced to the British Carden Loyd tankette, of which it borrowed much of its track and suspension design. After six prototype Kleintraktors were produced, the cover name was changed to Krupp-Traktor, whereas the development codename was changed to Landwirtschaftlicher Schlepper (La S) ("Agricultural Tractor"). The La S was intended not just to train Germany's panzer troops, but to prepare Germany's industry for the mass production of tanks in the near future; a difficult engineering feat for the time. The armament of production versions was to be two 7.92mm MG 13 machine guns in a rotating turret. Machine guns were known to be largely useless against even the lightest tank armour of the time, restricting the Panzer I to a training and anti-infantry role by design. The final official designation, assigned in 1938, was Panzerkampfwagen I (M.G.) with special ordnance number Sd.Kfz. 101. The first 150 tanks (1./LaS, 1st series LaS, Krupp-Traktor), produced in 1934, did not include the rotating turret and were used for crew training. Following these, production was switched to the combat version of the tank. The Ausf. A was under-armoured, with steel plating of only 13mm (0.51 in) at its thickest. The tank had several design flaws, including suspension problems, which made the vehicle pitch at high velocities, and engine overheating. The driver was positioned inside the chassis and used conventional steering levers to control the tank, while the commander was positioned in the turret where he also acted as gunner. The two crewmen could communicate by means of a voice tube. Machine gun ammunition was stowed in five bins, containing various numbers of 25-round magazines. 1,190 of the Panzerkampfwagen I Ausf. As were built in three series (2.-4./LaS). Further 25 were built as command tanks. Many of the problems in the Ausf. A were corrected with the introduction of the Ausf. B. The air-cooled engine (producing just 60 metric horsepower (44 kW)) was replaced by a water-cooled, six-cylinder Maybach NL 38 TR, developing 100 metric horsepower (74 kW), and the gearbox was changed to a more reliable model. The larger engine required the extension of the vehicle's chassis by 40cm (16 in), and this allowed the improvement of the tank's suspension, adding another bogie wheel and raising the tensioner. The tank's weight increased by 0.4 tons. Production of the Ausf. B began in August 1936 and finished in summer 1937 after 399 had been built in two series (5a-6a/LaS). Further 159 were built as command tanks in two series, with 295 chassis were built as turretless training tanks. 147 additional training tanks were built as convertible chassis with hardened armour with the option to upgrade them to full combat status by adding superstructure and a turret. Two more combat versions of the Panzer I were designed and produced between 1939 and 1942. By this stage, the design concept had been superseded by medium and heavy tanks and neither variant was produced in sufficient numbers to have a real impact on the progress of the war. These new tanks had nothing in common with either the Ausf. A or B models except name. One of these, the Panzer I Ausf. C, was designed jointly between Krauss-Maffei and Daimler-Benz in 1939 to provide an amply armoured and armed reconnaissance light tank. The Ausf. C boasted a completely new chassis and turret, a modern torsion-bar suspension and five Schachtellaufwerk-style interleaved roadwheels. It also had a maximum armor thickness of 30mm (1.18 in), over twice that of either the Ausf. A or B, and was armed with an EW 141 semi-autocannon, with a 50-round drum, firing 7.92mm anti-tank shells. Forty of these tanks were produced, along with six prototypes. Two tanks were deployed to the 1st Panzer Division in 1943, and the other thirty-eight were deployed to the LVIII Panzer Reserve Corps. during the Normandy landings. The second vehicle, the Ausf. F, was as different from the Ausf. C as it was from the Ausf. A and B. Intended as an infantry support tank, the Panzer I Ausf. F had a maximum armour thickness of 80mm (3.15 in) and weighed between 18 and 21 tonnes. The Ausf. F was armed with two 7.92mm MG 34s. Thirty were produced in 1940, and a second order of 100 was later canceled. In order to compensate for the increased weight, a new 150 horsepower (110 kW) Maybach HL45 Otto engine was used, allowing a maximum road speed of 25 kilometers per hour (15.5 mph) and used five overlapping road wheels per side, dropping the Ausf. C's interleaved units. Eight of the thirty tanks produced were sent to the 1st Panzer Division in 1943 and saw combat at the Battle of Kursk. The rest were given to several army schools for training and evaluation purposes. ''Combat Choro-Q'' series ''Combat Choro-Q'' The Ausf. B model appears in the game as the first opponent tank in Arena mode. Once you defeat it, it will be unlocked for your use. More information to be added ''Shin-Combat Choro-Q'' The Ausf. A model appears in the game, and could be chosen out of several other low-tier tanks as a starter by the player. If it was not chosen as a starter, it can be unlocked at a later time. It has the strictest weight limit in the game, with a maximum weight of 506, so customization options is more limited compared to the other starter tanks. Being a "T" type tank, the PzKpfw I Ausf. A can equip Sub-Weapons that have the "T" notation. Because the turret is offset to the right-hand side, along with the barrel length of the main gun, landing a shot on enemy tanks will take a bit of doing. It is never fought as an enemy. Trivia *The Alkett VsKfz 617 minesweeper, which Lieutenant General Narumarugamu is based on, uses the same turret as the Pz.Kpfw. I series. Appearances *''Combat Choro-Q'' *''Shin-Combat Choro-Q'' External Link(s) *Wikipedia article on the Panzer I Category:Combat Choro-Q Category:Shin-Combat Choro-Q Category:Tanks Category:Light Tanks